This mountain music gal might
have been born in a log cabin, but she was often known as "the first hillbilly
to own a Cadillac." She began recording for Decca in the late '40s, her album
winding up a cherished item among folk music revivalists of the '60s. One such
outfit, the New Lost City Ramblers, wound up backing up Cousin Emmy on a
Folkways record, but she leaves them in the dust. She was born Cynthia May
Carver and from the age of seven, she enjoyed being the star entertainer among
the children. Her musical ambitions eventually drove her to seek a wider
audience than just the neighborhood kids. She finally saved up her money and
traveled the difficult distance of 135 miles to the big town of Louisville,
where radio station WHAS beckoned. Nobody at the station would listen to her,
however, so she went back home and continued singing at events such as bean
hullings, quilting parties, and pie suppers. Finally, someone at the
aforementioned station caved in and she wound up with her own spot.
She still had to make a living doing personal appearances and
would typically have to drive 500 miles within a single day to fulfill both the
stage and radio commitments. Her radio shows began to pick up sponsors and the
country girl was moving on to even bigger towns such as Chicago and St. Louis,
where she performed on KMOX. During this time, she was chosen by the City Art
Museum of St. Louis as the most-perfect singer of mountain ballads.
Despite her growing fame, she only recorded one single, "Come All You Virginia
Gals," and one album for Decca. This recording and her performances with Cousin
Emmy & Her Kinfolk, both on-stage and on radio, created an incredibly
enthusiastic fan base. Among the classic country players who credit Cousin Emmy
with inspiring them to play is Grandpa Jones, who worked with her on WWVA when
he was too young to be a grandpa and had no banjo on his knee. The bluegrass
pioneers the Osborne Brothers
heard her version of "Ruby Are You Mad" on a jukebox and decided to run with it,
turning it into their band's signature song. Her original version was finally
put back in print via both a CMH anthology, Fair Tender Ladies, and a set of
classic Decca recordings released by MCA.
Unlike some old-time music artists, Cousin Emmy also had a bit of a career in
Hollywood, appearing in films such as Swing in the Saddle and Under Western Sky.
She relocated to Los Angeles during the making of these films and wound up
living there for years, raising a set of adopted children and playing at local
country music clubs. The members of the New Lost City Ramblers convinced her to
record with them in 1967, again resulting in a superior album. A new cycle of
gigs involving collaborations with this band were set in motion, including a
famous appearance at the Ash Grove in Los Angeles and the Newport Folk Festival.
Excerpts from the latter event were released on an anthology collection by
Vanguard. She performed with the Clinch Mountain Boys on Rainbow Quest, a series
of televised programs of folk music produced by Pete Seeger, and is in Festival,
a late-'60s folk festival documentary in which big wigs such as Bob Dylan and
Donovan tend to hog screen time. She also toured Europe in the late '60s. An
essential aspect of the Cousin Emmy experience is her brassy and even outrageous
personality. This puts her in the class of performers such as
Uncle Dave Macon or
Minnie Pearl. It
is certainly not an unheard of stance in country music, but is a contrast from
the serious, brooding nature of much Appalachian balladry. Not that she doesn't
touch on that, as her haunting song "Graveyard" attests. But she is just as
likely to come on-stage dressed in an outlandish costume and begin blowing up a
rubber glove for a gag, or producing a harmonica from the valley of her
cleavage. Showmanship was always a big deal with her, and she once played almost
two dozen different instruments during her show. She also seems to inspire
songwriters to write songs -- about her. Singer/songwriter Laura Lind has
recorded "Cousin Emmy's Blues," while the band Gallon Drunk has cut "Ruby/Us and
Cousin Emmy."